Monday Night Ratings Report

Another Monday Night Ratings War is in the books and it¿s good news all around as both shows rise in the ratings from last week. Raw fell an entire ratings point last week, down to a 5.8 overall rating. This week the numbers are significantly better as the WWF rises back up to a 6.4. Nitro slipped from a 3.0 to a 2.7 last week. It inches back up to a 2.8 overall rating this week.

Ratings Breakdown

Time

Raw

Nitro

8 - 9pm

-

3.2

9 - 10pm

5.7

2.7

10 - 11pm

7.0

-

(Overrun)

(7.9)

(2.9)

Overall:

6.4

2.8

Nitro Ratings Breakdown

Nitro opened with Commissioner Cat setting up the main event plus several other matches for the night. A short promo with Vampiro and Dale Torborg followed as Nitro opened with a 2.9 rating. The next two segments both drew 3.3 ratings, featuring Gentrach/O¿Hare vs. Rey/Juvy in the second segment and The Jung Dragons vs. Big Vito, and 3 Count vs. The Perfect Event in the third segment. Nitro¿s fourth segment was once again its highest rated of the night (3.4), as the 3 Count/Tank Abbott angle continued and the hype began for Goldberg vs. Duggan.

The second hour opened against Raw¿s first hour. Nitro¿s rating tumbled almost a full ratings point, down to a 2.6 for Goldberg vs. Duggan, and Nash vs. Mike Awesome. Nitro¿s slide continued as Big Poppa Pump vs. Buff Bagwell drew a 2.4. The altercation between Miss Hancock and Daffney, plus Lance Storm¿s WCW in-ring debut vs. Disco Inferno held steady at 2.4 in the seventh segment. Nitro bottomed out at a 2.3 rating in the final segment of the second hour, which featured Vampiro vs. Torborg and most of the Four Corners main event. The overrun, featuring the end of the main event, drew a 2.9 rating.

Raw Ratings Breakdown

Raw opened up slowly as usual, with a 5.2 rating despite an entertaining Rock vs. Vince promo to open the show. Rikishi¿s first IC Title defense, against Chris Benoit, saw the ratings inch up to a 5.3. The next three segments all made significant jumps, beginning with the third segment leaping to a 5.8 rating for X-Pac vs. Chris Jericho, and Val Venis vs. Eddy Guerrero. The lengthy promo featuring Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Mick Foley and Kurt Angle filled the next two segments. The fourth quarter-hour pulled a 6.4 rating then Kurt Angle joined in for the fifth segment, which drew a huge 7.1 rating. Jerry Lawler vs. Dean Malenko in the ¿Over the top, off with your top¿ match was also featured during this segment.

Edge and Christian requested their own dressing rooms and a few sodas from the new commish in the sixth segment and the Acolytes won the battle royal to the tune of a 6.7 rating. Undertaker and Kane took on Edge and Christian for a 6.8 rating, heading into the main event.

The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Kurt Angle pulled in a 7.2 rating in the final quarter-hour of Raw. They closed out the overrun with a huge 7.9 number.

Overall Analysis

After the Lakers and Pacers stole a lot of viewers from wrestling last week, the shows returned to normal ratings numbers this week. Nitro¿s first hour did respectably but the second hour never stopped falling. In recent weeks, at least one segment during Nitro¿s second hour has seen some kind of increase while opposed by Raw. On a positive note for WCW though, from the fifth segment to the eighth, they only dropped 0.3 in the ratings, despite the fact that Raw jumped 1.2 during that time. That just backs up the fact that a significant percentage of wrestling fans watch only one promotion on Monday nights.

Raw bounced back to a 6.4 rating, which is close to their average number over recent months. The three consecutive segments all rising more than half a ratings point is unprecedented for the period of time that I have been doing these ratings reports. X-Pac vs. Jericho, and Eddy vs. Val rose 0.5, the first half of the HBK/Triple H/Foley promo rose 0.6, and the finish of that promo with Kurt Angle plus Lawler vs. Malenko rose 0.7. Raw just cannot seem to solve the problems they experience during the first segment, which is always well below the overall number, even with The Rock and Vince in the spotlight during that time.